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Sounds like you are pretty much on track.  A couple of things:

	1.  Get a new stethoscope.  It is one of the best ways to tell how  
she is doing. If she is tired, but her pulse is down, you are  
probably OK.  If she is tired and her pulse stays elevated (above 56  
for more than 15 minutes), she isn't ready, and you are training too  
hard.  Take it with you and do your own "vet check" ... find a spot  
1/2 way through your ride where you can stop.  Take down your time.   
Take down the time at which she recovers to 56 bpm.   Do the same  
thing when you get back from your ride.  She should be down to 56  
within 10 minutes.  There are lots of ways to test recovery .. the  
above assumes you are walking into the vet check, not racing in at  
the top of a hill.

	2.  This depends on how you do your training rides.  If you put in  
water stops and "vet checks" ... and you are averaging 5 mph then you  
are probably OK.  However, what I found for my first LD was that the  
pace needed for a ride was faster than what I had been conditioning  
at.  I had been doing 5 mph average, too.   However,  doing an  
average 5 mph for 10 or 15 miles with a 5 minute break for water does  
not translate to doing 25 miles with time out for water stops and a  
30 minute vet check hold.  Instead, your riding pace has to be nearer  
6 mph.

	3.  Now -- this is overkill, however, since it is your first LD, it  
would give you a better idea of how she would handle the actual  
ride.  You might try putting in one or two longer rides of 20 miles.   
Do one two months before your ride, and another one month before your  
ride.  Don't do a "long" ride any closer than a month before, and  
don't do more than one a month.

 One thing -- don't increase training distance AND speed at the same  
time.  You are already doing 15 miles.  Increase the speed and keep  
the distance the same, so that she is doing 6 mph average.  When she  
is good with that, then you can try adding an extra 5 miles if you  
want to.


Anybody else ... feel free to jump in.  I don't have loads of  
experience, but I did get my 25 year old through an LD in good shape  
after a 15 year "layoff" -- I just took 2 years to condition him.


On May 28, 2008, at 6:49 AM, Betsy Thomas wrote:

> I have been working on conditioning my pony for an LD.  She is  
> noticeably fitter and in better shape than she was a few months ago.
>
> So, how can I tell when she's fit enough to attempt an LD?  She's  
> not there yet, it's still a work in progress, but I was wondering  
> this.
>
> Here are some assumptions I'm working with, too, you can let me  
> know if I'm mistaken.
>
> - She needs to go at a 5 mph moving average in order to get a  
> completion.
>
> - She is a Mustang and built thicker than an Arab, so I'm going to  
> assume her pulse-down rates will generally be slower than the  
> little arabs I see trotting around.
>
> - I don't actually have to ride 25 miles on a conditioning ride in  
> order to think she can do an LD, or if I do, I can make it slower  
> than a race.
>
> Right now our longest conditioning ride has been 16.3 miles and it  
> was done at a 4 mph rate.  Typical "short weekday workout" right  
> now is 5 or 6 miles done at between 5.0 and 5.2 mph.  This includes  
> a warmup walking mile but not the cooldown mile.  If I include the  
> cooldown mile in my rate, it goes down under 5 mph.
>
> I don't use a HRM and my stethoscope broke a while back, but she's  
> pretty good at letting me know when she's tired.  Good little  
> pony.  Handles uneven ground like a champ and just gets into her  
> "work mode" and trucks along.   We did 10 miles over hills last  
> weekend and included more cantering than we usually do because,  
> when we weren't in crowds of hikers or on really nasty hills, we  
> used some flat ground and good trail visibility to make up time.   
> She was pretty tired at the end, not like exhausted or anything  
> just her walk got pretty slow even though we were headed back to  
> the barn.
>
> Thanks,
> Betsy
>
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